Two Hours Traffic Have Road Trip Songs Ready For Lengthy Tour

Looking at their two full-length albums and two EPs, one thing's certain about P.E.I.'s Two Hours Traffic: they're well-educated in the ways of pop music. With each release bursting with catchy-as-hell hooks and melodies, one has to wonder how the Charlottetown quartet manage to pen memorable tracks with such seeming ease.

"If I told you the secret, then everyone would write good pop songs and we'd be out of a job," jokes bassist Andrew MacDonald. "Nice try, ChartAttack.

"Honestly, though, we just try and listen to good music and hope that in doing so a light bulb or two will go off inside our heads."

The act's pop sensibilities were recognized late last year when they were presented a Bucky Award from CBC Radio 3 for best road trip song for "Backseat Sweetheart" from last year's Little Jabs. The band are touring across the country in support of the disc, so MacDonald shared some of his favourite highway anthems and compared how "Backseat Sweetheart" held up against them.

"We've been blaring 'Paper Planes' by M.I.A. a good amount lately. Liam [Corcoran] made a mix CD last time we were travelling across Canada with 'Wild Night' by Van Morrison on it. That really knocked my socks off. I feel 'Backseat Sweetheart' respectfully destroys these songs."

Destroying their competition is something Two Hours Traffic are getting much better at. Along with the above-mentioned Bucky Award, Little Jabs has been nominated for a handful of honours at this weekend's East Coast Music Awards, including album of the year. The group were also recently nominated for favourite rock artist/group or duo at this year's Indie Awards.

Along with the industry recognition, Little Jabs and several of its cuts were listed among the strongest offerings of 2007 on many Canadian critics' year-end best-of lists. With so many fantastic albums coming out of the country's underground rock scene, what does MacDonald feel has made Little Jabs stand out?

"That's a tough call. I certainly think it's our strongest record to date, but I feel the older ones hold up as well. It's hard to say why certain albums strike a chord with people. Our songwriting is definitely getting better with each recording, so maybe that's it.

"I also think it helped that Little Jabs was released in the summer. A lot of the songs have a summery feel to them, and it's always important to have an album to blare with the windows down en route to the beach. A lot of people have told me that's what it was to them. I think it holds up year-round, but maybe it hits harder around those summer months."

Two Hours Traffic's six-week Feb. and March tour marks their second time driving from coast to coast. They're hopeful that Little Jabs' praise will provide extra motivation to music fans to come and see them perform. Excited to be on the road again, MacDonald has several places that he's looking forward to visiting that he discovered during their last trek. He's confident that the band will stumble across some other cool sights while racing from city to city as well.

"The creepy restaurant in Quebec surrounded by dinosaurs and monster trucks is always a welcome sight, but its name escapes me. Last time we went across the country we stopped at a rest station right on Lake Superior. There was a trail through the woods which led down to the beach. We just hung out there for a while. It was fantastic, but probably won't be as nice in March."

Here are Two Hours Traffic's tour dates:

Feb. 7 Fredericton, NB @ The Cellar (University Of New Brunswick)
Feb. 8 Fredericton, NB @ Delta Hotel
Feb. 9 Fredericton, NB @ Nicky Zee's
Feb. 14 Quebec City, QC @ Le Bal Du Lezard
Feb. 15 Montreal, QC @ Club Lambi
Feb. 16 Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod Beeblebrox
Feb. 19 London, ON @ Call The Office
Feb. 21 Guelph, ON @ Ebar
Feb. 22 Brantford, ON @ The Ford Plant
Feb. 23 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
Feb. 28 Sault Ste. Marie, ON @ Loplop's Gallery & Lounge
Feb. 29 Thunder Bay, ON @ Kilroys
March 1 Winnipeg, MB @ Royal Albert Arms
March 5 Edmonton, AB @ Pawn Shop
March 6 Calgary, AB @ The Gateway
March 7 Kelowna, BC @ Doc Willoughby's
March 8 Vancouver, BC @ Railway Club
March 13 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo's Cantina
March 14 Medicine Hat, AB @ The Doghouse
March 15 Regina, SK @ The Exchange
March 20 Peterborough, ON @ Red Dog Tavern